When beginning a kettlebell training regimen, one of the most common complaints is having calluses

on the hands that make it hard to train.  One of the main causes of calluses is over gripping the bell handle on ballistic exercises.

Kettlebell exercises can be divided into two categories, grinds and ballistics.  We have discussed this in a previous training vlog but to recap, a grind is a slow exercise (such as the military press) where you grind through to the end, and a ballistic exercise is one where there is a force and then the bell floats, such as a swing, snatch, or even a kettlebell clean.

On the grinds, you want to grip the bell tight to make sure you are using as many muscles as you can (we will talk more about this theory called “Hyper-irradiation” next week) but on the ballistics, you want a loose grip.

A loose grip on the ballistics allows the handle to shift and move around your hand without excess friction.  If you grip the bell tightly on ballistics, you will be fighting the natural movement of the handle around your hand and cause the skin that’s in the way to get worn and callused. A super tight grip can even cause blood blisters in some cases.

You’ll see people on the internet bragging about their calluses but what they are really doing is bragging about an injury.  In extreme cases (such as the snatch test at an SFG cert or heavy preparation for an event) you may get calluses on your hands, but it shouldn’t be a way of life for kettlebell lifters. If your hands are constantly callused, it’s an indication that your technique is off and could use some tweaking.

If you do find your skin getting rough and callused, as you improve your technique, also take care of the calluses that are forming.  My personal favorite is using a Ped-Egg that you can find in the “As Seen on TV” section of your local drug store, and I’ve heard of people even using sandpaper to file their skin down and finishing off the day by putting bag balm or udder cream on their hands and sleeping with them covered in socks.  Do you have an additional method of avoiding or treating calluses? Please share in the comments below!